Team behind Sonic the Hedgehog pass on tips at Priestley College

A LEADING figure in computer game design has been wowed by the talents of students in Warrington.

Arthur Parsons, who is head of design at TT Games in Knutsford, visited Priestley College to meet those on its tech level computer games design course.

Afterwards he said the structure of the BTEC and the teaching methods employed at Priestley were ‘setting a new benchmark for this type of course’.

“I was blown away by the quality of work that the students at Priestley are producing,” said Arthur, whose company has developed Lego and Sonic the Hedgehog games.

“I’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on the students emerging from Priestley.”

Arthur has been the game director of several of the popular Lego franchises including Lego Batman and Lego Marvel Super Heroes while he’s also been involved in the design and development of others like Crash Bandicoot and Toy Story.

He was joined at Priestley College by Jeff Coghlan, the founder of Matmi which develops games and websites for a range of companies as varied as airlines and theme parks.

Matthew Wilson, who teaches computer games design at Priestley, said: “This was such an exciting opportunity for our students to demonstrate their talents to leading figures in the industry.”

The visit was organised by Denise Proctor, chair of Weave, the creative and digital employers’ board, to demonstrate the great talent on their doorstep. Cheshire has more than 2,000 creative and digital businesses employing around 20,000 people.

Denise said: “We need to promote excellence of young design talent nurtured by principal Matthew Grant and his team.

“Weave will encourage more companies in Cheshire to create employment opportunities to retain talent locally.”

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